Describe preparation versus prevention when it comes to a school district’s safety plan.

You can only prepare for general incidents; you can’t prepare for the specific. Preparing a safety plan gets everybody on the same page. Whether it’s a bus accident, bomb threat or intruder alert, prevention comes through debriefing after an emergency occurs. You can’t prevent a bus accident, but you can prevent inadequacies in how we communicate to parents, how we handle injured students and how we deal with the press during that time.

Implementing inquiry-based science is one approach to developing critical thinking and personalizing instruction for students by addressing the preconceptions that they bring with them to the classroom.

Administrators who don’t feel their staffs have the time to manage community programs have contracted with outside groups to organize and oversee services.

Communities in Schools, which partners with about 400 districts in 25 states, has been helping administrators provide non-academic supports to students in high-need schools for about 40 years, says Gary Chapman, the nonprofit’s executive vice president for business development.

Districts are increasingly tasked with providing options for at-risk and underserved student populations to address persistent achievement gaps. While nationwide gains in closing achievement gaps have been made, research shows that underserved student populations still achieve at lower rates than their peers in many areas.

The damage to teaching and learning caused by over-reliance on standardized tests is widely acknowledged. It includes narrowed curricula, teaching to the test, and one-size-fits-all instruction. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers a significant opportunity for states and districts to revamp their assessment systems.

Due to property tax reform in Indiana, the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township experienced a $14 million to $17 million shortfall and was facing tough financial decisions surrounding its capital projects, debt service and transportation expenditures.

To search for efficiencies in transportation, Superintendent Jeff Butts engaged with Transfinder, specifically looking to leverage their software solutions and expertise in transportation routing, scheduling and communications.